1. Field
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to mobile electronic devices, and, more particularly, to methods, apparatuses, and articles of manufacture that may be used to estimate location of a mobile device using, for example, one or more virtual access points.
2. Information
The global positioning system (GPS), and other like satellite positioning systems (SPSs), have enabled navigation services for mobile handsets in many types of outdoor environments. However, since satellite signals may not be reliably received and/or acquired in some indoor environments, such as office complexes, shopping malls, indoor stadiums, and so forth, different techniques may be employed to enable indoor navigation services. For example, a mobile device in an indoor environment may typically obtain an estimated location by measuring ranges to three or more wireless access points that may be positioned at known, physically separate locations. Such ranges may be measured, for example, by measuring characteristics of signals acquired from wireless transceivers, such as wireless access points. In some instances, characteristics of acquired signals may comprise received signal strength and/or round trip signal delay measured between a mobile device and one or more physically separated wireless access points. In many position estimation approaches, increasing physical separation among wireless access points may permit greater accuracy in position estimation.
In some instances, an indoor environment may utilize one or more virtual access points comprising a single physical access point to transmit multiple beacon signals conveying unique identifiers, such as media access control identification (MAC ID) addresses and/or basic service set identifiers (BSSIDs), to mobile devices within range. Responsive to receipt of multiple beacon signals, a mobile device user may attempt to employ one or more position estimation approaches, such as round trip signal delay and/or comparison of received signal strength, with one or more radio heatmaps. However, in such instances, if multiple MAC IDs originate from a single physical access point, a mobile device may be unable to compute an accurate estimation of position. In instances such as these, a mobile device user may become disoriented within the indoor environment. Such disorientation may represent a source of frustration for the user as well as any individuals who might be scheduled to rendezvous with, for example, the mobile device user.